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Keeping In Touch With My Online Family
Helping you build your successful, home-based
business one step at a time.
<<~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~>>
Issue #51
Date: June 4th, 2002
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The significant challenges that we face today cannot be
resolved by the same level of thinking that created them.
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KIT is by subscription only. Unsubscribe details at the end
of this ezine.
*~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~*
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In This Issue
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=> Publisher's Corner
=> Feature Article
=> Review: Products or Services
=> Inspiration
=> Special Feature
=> Hot Tip
=> Ezine ADventure
=> Reader's Corner
=> Ad Swaps
=> Success Links
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Publisher's Corner
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Hi {FIRSTNAME} and welcome to today's issue of Keeping in Touch.
A big, warm 'hello' to all our new subscribers.
Making a choice about how you want to earn money with an
Internet business can be a challenge by itself. There are
numerous directions you can take.
- sell a product
- sell a service
- become an affiliate
These are just a few suggestions. Now you have to decide what
you want to do. Whatever your choice, it has to be something
you can be excited about. As a beginner, affiliate programs
can be a great way to start. Most affiliate programs will
offer you a replicated site you can start with.
Affiliate programs can produce some good, solid income provided
you are smart about your promotion. Choose a program that has
your interest. Once you know your 'product', start marketing
it and put your own personality into your marketing. Stick to
the facts -- this isn't the place to exaggerate. Just show
your prospective customers what the benefits are to them. If
you aren't sure about what program/programs would be of interest
to you, just click on this link. Allan Gardyne has over 5,000
different affiliate or associate programs listed here.
http://associateprograms.com/
You should know that you will be much better off with your own
domain and do your marketing through it. Search engines tend to
'remove' an affiliate link and just direct traffic to the main
site. You'll lose out on commissions that way.
And speaking of marketing, Ian Noakes of EzineKing has made a
very generous offer to KIT subscribers. This would be an
excellent way to test some of your ads without having to pay
for them first. EzineKing (formerly Ads4Subs) offers a base
of 1.7 million subscribers and his rates are reasonable.
You will undoubtedly want to try out different ways of creating
your income. That's the smart way to go about it. You want
to create multiple sources of income. Some products will
come and go quite quickly. The Internet is always changing.
Having your 'eggs' in more than one basket will ensure that
your income source doesn't dry up because the market for it is
gone. Just don't try to take on too many programs or services
at one time. You will lose your effectiveness.
Our Feature Article today was presented by KIT subscriber,
Glenn Gordon. His article, It's Not About the Profit!
Delivering Optimum Value In Your Products, shows why creating
value is ultimately more important to you and your business than
just focusing on how much you will make.
Our Special Feature is by Matthew Lesko and he shares the
numerous ways you can take advantage of 'other people's
money' to expand your business in How to Use Other People's
Money for Your Business. Matthew Lesko is a foremost expert
on government freebies.
Don't forget to take Ian up on his offer of free advertising.
You can reach 115,000 subscribers with this offer and it won't
cost you a thing. Read the details for Ezine King following
these comments. You'll only receive this offer if you use my
link.
Have a great day {FIRSTNAME} and keep on smiling.
Lois M. Jeary
Publisher, KIT and KIT Klassifieds
mailto:lois@home4success.com
http://www.home4success.com
============================================
Special Offer For KIT Subscribers (June only):
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============================================
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Feature Article
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It's Not About the Profit!
Delivering Optimum Value In Your Products
I am in the planning stages for a new information product to
be sold on the Internet. Part of the process is of course
formulating what I will deliver and what the selling cost
will be. As I mulled over this whole process, it occurred
to me that in the final analysis, it isn't about the profit.
Wait a minute, you are saying, if it isn't about the profit,
what is it about?
I will concede that if this product were a one shot deal,
it might as well be about the profit. But I plan to be
around next month and next year and so I have put into my
development process a plan that I think will serve me well
for a long time. Instead of concentrating on what is the
most profitable product cost/content ratio, I instead put
into place what I call the DOVE principle - Deliver Optimum
Value Endlessly. I am proposing that, for any product, it
is possible to provide what, for the customer, is the
optimum value.
Although I am a perfectionist, we're not talking about
perfection here, just a process to get as close to it as
practical. Obviously the value of what I am proposing hinges on
how I define and determine "optimum value." My definition of
optimum value is "the product that best satisfies that
customer's specific need at what he considers a fair price."
Many product offerings I see seem to be following the Ginsu
Knives principle - offer what seems to be a good deal, then pile
on bonuses until the customer thinks he can't pass it up. This
is by all accounts a good selling tactic, but I am proposing
that AFTER the sale, the optimum value becomes more important
than the selling technique. If the customer finds the basic
product to only marginally meet the need he was trying to fill,
all the bonuses in the world may not be adequate to sell him the
next product you develop. And if you plan on being successful,
customer retention must be one of your top goals. I am proposing
the DOVE principle as a method of achieving high customer
retention rates.
Another sales approach, selling to meet the customer's wants
rather than his needs, seems to me to fall in the same category
- an effective selling technique that doesn't optimize the
customer retention rate. After all, once the customer realizes
that what he bought was not really what he needed, is he likely
to look with favor on the one who convinced him to make the
purchase? Is this a path to developing trust between the seller
and the customer, or just a path to quick profits?
Why not just over-deliver on all my products, you may ask?
Certainly I believe in delivering more than the customer
expects, but, taking information sales as an example, piling up
e-books, even good ones, may mean the customer gets lost in the
mass and ends up having troubles getting at the information that
fills his basic, original need. No comment on under-delivering
should be necessary!
Putting the DOVE principle into some practical steps:
1. Carefully identify the need you are proposing to fill.
Talk to as many people as you can about this need to properly
judge its validity and size. You will undoubtedly find that
your original concept of the need will require considerable
refinement. Targeting a need far outside the area of your
core knowledge and experience may ultimately be successful
but will probably be a more time-consuming task and more
difficult to properly carry out. The more you understand about
the need, the easier it will be to optimize the product to meet
it. Failure to execute this step properly will seriously
jeopardize your success with the product.
2. Develop and refine the product with that specific need in mind.
Involve others at this step also, since you quickly lose
objectivity about your own pet projects.
3. Test the product on your specific target market.
Offer the product free to the type of people you have identified
as your target market. Test every part of the customer interface
- the sales page, the ordering and delivery process, and most
importantly, the product price and content. Don’t skimp on this
aspect of the process; if you do, you will merely be moving
the test onto the general market and lose time and promotional
expenses in the process.
4.Optimize the product offering based on the test results.
You will undoubtedly find that some adjustments are required
after your test results are in. You may need to add, improve or
even delete certain elements of the product, all the while
trying to answer the question "What does this customer need?" A
second or even a third round of testing should be done,
especially if significant changes are made as a result of the
tests.
No, a long term market strategy shouldn't be about the profit,
but a process that delivers optimum product after optimum
product will find a loyal, growing customer base and yes,
profits too!
___________________________
Glenn Gordon is the owner of You're In Business and the website
at http://www.ur-in-business.com
. The site is dedicated to
providing training, tips, tools and techniques targeting success
online. He also publishes the BusinessBuilder Newsletter which
carries the website theme in a bi-weekly format of powerful,
relevant articles. Subscription at
http://www.ur-in-business.com/bbsub.htm
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Product Review
*~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~*
Create amazing Header Graphics for your website with Header
Generator. This software does all the work for you.
- increase your conversion rate
- look more professional
- takes only minutes to do
- create your own viral branding impression
http://home4success.com/go/to.cgi?l=headgen
Armand Morin has come up with another winner. I managed to get
on a tele-conference call with him not too long ago. The
reason he's been so successful with his programs is due to the
fact that he 'listens' to his customers. He takes the feedback
very seriously and puts it into the next product he develops.
Header Generator comes with over 300 templates and all you have
to do is insert your text.
Header Generator is the newest product he offers. He's the
creator of eCover Generator, which was just updated, and it puts
out amazing cover graphics in minutes. For details, just go
to:
http://home4success.com/go/to.cgi?l=ecover
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Inspiration
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Twenty years from now you will look back more regretfully
upon the things you didn't do than those you did. So set
free the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor. Dream.
Explore. Discover.
Mark Twain
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The human body experiences a powerful gravitational pull
in the direction of hope.
Norman Cousins
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful
bit of advice for all humanity it would be this: Expect trouble
as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold your head
high, look it squarely in the eye and say, "I will be bigger
than you. You cannot defeat me."
Ann Landers
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Special Feature
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How to Use Other People's Money for Your Business
By Matthew Lesko
"Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant."
- P.T. Barnum
John Ray, the famous 17th century author, was known to have
written the aphorism, "Money begets money." In the business
world, I'm sure you've also heard the saying, "You've got to
have money to make money."
There are countless sources of cash, but by far, the best one to
utilize for your business is ... other people's money.
Perhaps one of the greatest "secrets" of the richest people in
the world is summed up in those 3 words: Other People's Money -
OPM for short. If you took a cross-section of the most
affluent business people, you'll find that the majority of them
launched their fortunes using OPM. In the next few minutes, I
will show you how you can obtain other people's money for your
business. What you do with the money, however, is up to you -
but if I were you, I'd take P.T. Barnum's advice, and make money
your servant so that you, too, you can make your own fortune.
The use of other people's money has become such an ethical and
acceptable mainstay in business because one can leverage other
people's money to your benefit.
For example, you can leverage borrowed money into high-yield
investment programs that could generate a return that would then
pay back your lender and line your pockets as well. Or you can
leverage borrowed money into asset-producing or income-
generating real property. Or you can simply borrow money to
start or grow your business.
The benefits to using OPM are obvious: 1) When you use other
people's money, especially within the parameters of a
corporation, your debt is assigned to your business, and your
debtors can make no claims against your personal finances; and
2) the infusion of cash allows you to have money to make money
for your business.
Of course, even with the proliferation of lending institutions
and venture capitalists, it is often difficult to obtain other
people's money.
Well, since Wall Street Journal has kindly called me a man who
"finds answers in unlikely places," I'm going to reveal an
unlikely place where you can obtain other people's money. This
one is available to all, and yet very few ever take advantage of
it. It's the federal government.
I've coined a phrase for this source of money: I call it "other
taxpayers' money" - OTM for short. The federal government has
millions of dollars of taxpayers' money allocated to funding
businesses like yours.
Here are a few great sources of OTM:
1) If you want to get training and/or money to start your own
business, millions of dollars are available at www.sba.com.
They'll also show you how to find alternative sources of
financing, how to protect your invention, how to sell your idea,
how to license your product, how to write legal contracts, how
to sell overseas, and how to buy business equipment.
2) If you want money to export and sell products to foreign
countries, you can obtain it from the Export-Import Bank of the
United States at www.exim.gov. Or you can go to The Overseas
Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) at www.opic.gov.
3) If you want to obtain government contracts, then access the
Procurement Assistance Offices online. Here, you'll learn how
to draw up a business plan that'll get your business noticed.
They can match the product or service you're selling with the
appropriate agency, and then help you market to them more
effectively. You can find these programs at www.dla.mil.
4) If you need venture capital for a new or existing business,
then you need to go online and access the Small Business
Investment Company (SBIC). These are privately-organized and
privately-managed investment firms that are licensed by the
Small Business Administration (SBA). With their own capital and
with funds borrowed at favorable rates through the federal
government, SBICs provide venture capital to small independent
businesses, both new and established. You can access them at
www.sba.gov/INV.
5) If you need free help or want to learn how to do your own
personal or business taxes? All you have to do is access
www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/bus_info-bus_help.html
.
You can also obtain a free 26-page book on the Internet called
The Credit Process: A Guide for Small Business Owners. It's
written for small business owners seeking financing for the
first time. It covers sources and types of financing; funding
resources; preparation of a business plan; preparation of loan
applications; and action to take if a loan is denied. It also
contains an especially useful and comprehensive glossary of
finance terms, agencies, and fair lending regulations.
========================================
Matthew Lesko is a New York times syndicated columnist, and
author of 2 New York Times best-sellers. He is regularly
featured as the nation's top expert on government freebies on TV
programs such as Larry King, Oprah, David Letterman, Jay Leno,
the Today Show and Good Morning America. His latest book, "Free
Money for Entrepreneurs on the Internet" identifies hundreds of
little-known sources of free government money for "net-
repreneurs" and reveals the secret formula for easily obtaining
the money for your business.
http://www.roibot.com/r_fsfe.cgi?R16044_fsqsartt
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Hot Tip
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I found this nifty little program by reading Rim Digest.
Tiny URL
Shorten long urls or payment links by using Tiny URL. I tried
it with a payment link for one of my programs. The link
started with 259 characters and was shortened to 22!
http://tinyurl.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Handy Backup
Easy to use, full-featured backup utility. They offer a 30-day
try before you buy option. This program contains a scheduler
for automatic backup, zip and compression options, backup to CD
and more.
It verifies the backup is 'identical' to the original. I
certainly like what I've seen so far.
http://www.handybackup.com/index.html
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Ezine ADventure
*~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~*
Healthcare Costs Too High?
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Ground floor opportunity for Marketing Leaders
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An EzineADventure AD. Click Below - Get Your FREE Ads NOW!
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==============================================
Keyboard Tips ------ "Special Characters"
==============================================
Add special characters to enliven your communications, such
as email, with ease. Just follow these simple steps, and use
whatever code you desire. It's a very cool way to create a stir
amongst your friends. "Hey, how'd you do that?!" It's a secret,
of course. <smile>
Special characters are created by pressing certain number
combinations on the numeric keyboard in conjunction with the
Alt key. For example, holding down Alt and pressing "0169"
(without the quotes) will yield the copyright symbol: ©.
The symbol is not created until you've pressed the last
numeric key! So, while holding down the Alt key, press zero,
one, six, nine, and voila! You'll see the copyright symbol "©"
appear.
I'm going to give you a whole list of characters to play with
and their codes in just a minute. First, one more interesting
point.
If you select a font other than Arial, Courier New, or Times
New Roman, you'll get even more options. You may have
noticed there are two additional fonts in Windows that are
kind of interesting. "Wingdings" and "Symbol." Let's say you're
using Word or WordPerfect. Change the font to Wingdings.
Then type the codes, and you'll see a totally new way of
expressing yourself.
The code is called the "ANSI character set" by techies. ANSI
stands for American National Standards Institute. Yea, it's
exciting stuff!
Compliments of The Newbie Club
*~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~*
Reader's Corner
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Do you believe in luck?
There's sometimes a fine line dividing bad luck from good. A
few seconds here, a step to the right or left there. A
sudden phone call, a missed flight. One tiny event can
change your life forever.
If you could learn to step across that dividing line to
become "naturally lucky," what would it mean to you? What
changes could you see in your life now?
There's a book you should check out. "Command More Luck" is
written by Charles Burke, a man who actually raised himself
from naturally UN-lucky to consistently receiving one lucky
break after another. And he tells exactly how you can do the
same.
If the luck in your life could stand some improving, go to
http://home4success.com/go/to.cgi?l=luck
and read what you can
do about it. Do it now.
~~~~~~~~~~
Free subscriber ads can be submitted to this link only:
mailto:lois@home4success.com?Subject=KIT_K_June_8th,_2002
Reminder: One ad/per subscriber - First 20 are in
5 lines, 60 characters per line
If you need help to format an ad, please use this great little
program:
http://www.jbmckee.com/formatit/reformatit.html
To submit an Article:
Please format your articles as well. (65 characters per line max)
mailto:lois@home4success.com?Subject=KIT_Article_Submit
To share Tools or Tips:
mailto:lois@home4success.com?Subject=KIT_Tips_Tools
To make comments or suggestions:
mailto:lois@home4success.com?Subject=I_Have_A_Comment
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have You Read?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Success Steps
A publication of Success Synergies
Personal & Business Coaching
http://www.success-synergies.com
~~~~~~~~~~
Que Sera Sera - A bi-weekly Motivational and inspirational
E-mail Newsletter Signup: que_sera_sera-subscribe@topica.com
Newsletter Web Signup: http://www.djstoddard.net/newsletter.html
~~~~~~~~~~
The Sizzling Edge
Turning chance into your richest resource. Published
by Charles Burke, the author of Command More Luck and
Inside The Minds of Winners.
Subscribe: mailto:sizzling-on@sizzlingedge.com
~~~~~~~~~~
Start-Smartz: YOUR success IS my business!
http://start-smartz.com
or
mailto:webmistress@start-smartz.com?subject=subscribe_KIT
==============================================
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----------------------------------------------------------------
ItsaWorld - http://www.itsaworld.com
==============================================
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Ad Swaps
*~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~*
None this week.
*~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~*
Success Links
*~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~*
Capitalize on the Extreme Traffic Generating Power of the Four
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Dominate the Top-10 Search Listings in Any Industry.
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*~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~*
QUESTION: What simple sales tool can literally QUADRUPLE your
sales overnight. Click the link to find out more!
http://home4success.com/go/to.cgi?l=ARP
*~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~*
Why re-invent the wheel? Web Marketing Pros SPILL The BEANS!
http://home4success.com/go/to.cgi?l=imckit
*~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~*
Need a Web Host? Check out JGP TopHOST. Several plans
available to meet your needs - and he's a nice guy to boot.
http://www.jgptophost.com/hop=loismj.jgptophost
*~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~*
Advertise BIG for a Little. Put your ads in front of a
million plus subscribers. Packages start as low as $5.00.
http://www.ezineking.com.com/cgi-bin/aff_scripts/affiliate.pl?id=128
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KIT Memberships include:
~ Honorary membership in C.O.B.R.A.
Council of Online Business Relations Advocates
http://www.homesourcearena.com/cobra.htm
~ Ezine Publishers Association International
http://www.EzinePublisher.org
<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>
*~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~*
Disclaimer:
*~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~*
All advertising in KIT is accepted in good faith and is offered
as a service to our readers. Publication of the ad should not
be construed as an endorsement of the product, business
opportunity or service being offered. Please refer to the
contact details in the ad for more information about product
or service offered. Use due diligence for all offers.
Free At Last Enterprises reserves the right to exclude any ad
pertaining to hate, race, discrimination or deemed inappropriate
for all readers.
*~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~*
Keeping in Touch With My Online Family is published by:
Free At Last Enterprises
Lois M. Jeary, Publisher
P. O. Box 88, Elie, Manitoba R0H 0H0 Canada
Phone: (204) 353-4096
Fax: (204) 353-2248
E-Mail: mailto:lois@home4success.com
Website: http://www.home4success.com
*~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~**~~~*
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